George Greenwood’s story in The Times shows exactly why tenancy conclusions need a better standard

George Greenwood’s piece in The Times landed because it captured something many renters instantly recognise: a large proposed deduction, patchy confidence in the evidence behind it, and a process that only becomes fully visible once trust has already broken down. In Greenwood’s case, a proposed deduction of £1,420 was reduced to £330 after adjudication. That should not make good agents defensive. It should make the sector ambitious.

Because this is not a rebuttal to tenants. It is a rebuttal to bad process.

The issue is not that deposit deductions exist. Legitimate deductions do exist. The issue is when deductions are weakly evidenced, poorly explained and painfully slow to resolve. The legal baseline is already clearer than many people experience in practice: in England and Wales, deposits must be protected within 30 days, agreed returns should be paid back within 10 days, tenants can raise disputes through approved schemes, and government guidance is clear that a tenant cannot be required to pay for a professional clean or forced to use a particular cleaning company. Where costs are claimed, they should be evidenced and proportionate.

And adjudicators are not looking for theatre. They are looking for structure. TDS guidance makes the point plainly: claims fail when forms are poorly completed or not enough evidence is supplied, and adjudicators decide cases only on the material put in front of them. Good check-in and check-out reports, dated photos, clear audit trails and properly presented claims are not “nice to haves” at tenancy end. They are the foundation of fairness.

That is exactly why we created The Depositary.

Yes, we help agents and landlords save time. But the bigger mission has always been to create a best-practice digital standard for tenancy conclusions: clearer timelines, cleaner evidence, more transparent communication and a simpler route to resolution when agreement is not possible. To the best of our knowledge, The Depositary remains the UK’s only dedicated tenancy conclusion platform — not an end-of-tenancy feature tucked inside a wider resident, leasing or deposit-replacement product. Our public product materials say the platform is averaging 12-day conclusions, can turn a 3-hour manual process into around 15 minutes of work, can cut concluding-tenancy admin by up to 80%, and can compile a dispute file in as little as 3 clicks. The platform has also launched AI support for tenant deposit negotiations, reinforcing a simple principle: automation should reduce admin, not accountability.

Why does that matter? Because a deposit is not a rounding error. Generation Rent says 22% of private renters reported unfair deposit deductions, yet only 4% used the formal dispute process. The same research says the average deposit in England and Wales was £1,150 on 31 March 2025. And this all sits inside a market where ONS recorded UK private rents rising 9.2% in the year to March 2024. When money is tight, clarity and speed at the end of a tenancy are not cosmetic improvements. They matter.

This is also why the tenant experience matters commercially as well as ethically. Most tenants do not want conflict. They want their money back faster, a clear view of what is happening, and confidence that if a claim is made it is supported by evidence rather than assertion. Equally, quality agency has never been about pushing a tenant into a liability that is unfair, unsupported or unlawful. The private rented sector we all want will be built by holding everyone to higher standards: agents, landlords and tenants alike.

And the timing matters. From 1 May 2026, England enters the Renters’ Rights Act era. Assured shorthold tenancies are abolished, tenancies move to a rolling structure, and the standards around clarity, process and accountability only become more important. The end of a tenancy can no longer be treated as a messy back-office task. It is one of the clearest trust tests in the entire rental experience.

At The Depositary, that is the standard we are building: easier, faster, better.

If you’re a letting agent, operator or landlord, book a demo. If you’re a tenant group, journalist or commentator interested in what a better end-of-tenancy process could look like in practice, ask us about the work behind our upcoming Tenancy Conclusion Index.

Link to The Times article: https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/property-home/article/landlord-rent-deposit-scheme-challenge-george-greenwood-g8qb2b63s